Living on Earth

For Indigenous People’s Day we take a look at the “Land Back” movement that seeks to return land like the Black Hills in South Dakota to its original inhabitants and restore a meaningful connection to the land.Also, with the changing climate, polar bears are moving south in search of food, and grizzly bears are moving north in search of cooler climes. In some cases, the two have mated and created a hybrid animal known as a "pizzly" bear.And until recently landfills in America were often sited in coastal wetlands. Now rising seas are threatening to unleash their trash, toxics, and even nuclear waste into coastal areas.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If nations adopt new air quality guidelines from the World Health Organization millions of lives could be saved every year from deadly air pollution.Also, for gardeners in the northern hemisphere, now is the time to take stock of this year’s successes and failures. Find out what you can do now to build fertile soil for next spring. And as the harvest season picks up, we share preservation tips and tricks for keeping the bounty and preventing fresh produce from ending up in landfills.Join us on October 5 for our next Living on Earth Book Club event! “Guardians of the Trees” author Dr. Kinari Webb will join Steve Curwood and Bobby Bascomb to talk about healing the world’s rainforests and the communities who depend on them. Register at https://loe.org/events/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Industry and the US federal government have long worked in tandem to sideline climate concerns and continue to promote Earth-warming fossil fuels. Now the US House Oversight and Reform Committee has summoned top executives from Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron and two affiliated lobbying groups to testify in front of a committee hearing in October, as part of an ongoing investigation into the fossil fuel industry's promotion of climate disinformation. Also, for the past 50 years, the US government has known about the problem of climate change but has continued to promote fossil fuel development and done little to avert a crisis. Longtime environmental leader Gus Speth joins us to discuss his new book “They Knew.” And a recent study found that three-quarters of young people surveyed believe the future is frightening because of climate change. What young people are expressing about their eco-anxiety and how parents can safely talk to their kids about climate. Join us on October 5 for our next Living on Earth Book Club event! “Guardians of the Trees” author Dr. Kinari Webb will join Steve Curwood and Bobby Bascomb to talk about healing the world’s rainforests and the communities who depend on them. Register at https://loe.org/events/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As COVID-19 spread continues and vaccine access remains limited in some of the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, civil society is warning of a “vaccine apartheid” and calling for a delay of the upcoming UN climate talks.Also, how solar power can produce up to 40% of the nation's electricity by 2035 to meet President Biden’s goal of decarbonizing the grid by then. And Harvard University announced that it will no longer invest in fossil fuel companies, following years of refusal amid a prominent and vocal divestment campaign.Join us on September 23 for our first Living on Earth Book Club event of the season! Richard Powers, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory, will join Host Steve Curwood to talk about his new book Bewilderment. Register at https://loe.org/events/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hurricane Ida left people in the Louisiana region known as ‘Cancer Alley’ with destroyed homes, no electricity, and polluted water. That’s on top of the toxic air they breathe every day because of some 150 petrochemical plants in the area. We hear from grassroots activist Sharon Lavigne, a 2021 Goldman Prize recipient, about what it’s like living through these disasters and what drives her to keep fighting yet another plastics plant. Also, hummingbirds are truly superlative creatures -- relative to their size, they are both the world's fastest avians and have some of the longest migratory journeys of any animal. Sy Montgomery focuses on these incredible birds in her latest book, The Hummingbirds' Gift, where she looks back on her harrowing but rewarding time raising two orphaned baby hummingbirds alongside an artist and hummingbird rehabilitator.And join us on September 23 for our first Living on Earth Book Club event of the season! Richard Powers, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Overstory, will join Host Steve Curwood to talk about his new book Bewilderment. Register at loe.org/events Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Living on Earth celebrates 30 years on the air, we examine this decisive moment for the human species and our challenging relationship with our planet. We meet people who envision a future reshaped by an emerging energy system and new power structures, as we wean off of fossil fuels.Next we take a big-picture view of Earth as a complex and sustaining organism known as Gaia. Over billions of years life has interacted with the elements of this planet in cycles of constant change and adaptation. With the help of deep ecologists, children, an astronaut and more, we survey our place on this ever-evolving living planet.And while science and policy are vital in building a more sustainable world, they can’t convey the values we need as we strive for ecological harmony. Indigenous stories, holy scriptures, East Asian cosmologies, papal encyclicals and divine revelation all shed light on our duties and relationship to each other and to our common home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A major Alaska drilling project to tap 600 million barrels of oil has been blocked. A federal judge ruled in favor of Indigenous and environmental groups, finding that the permitting process has yet to fully consider impacts on the climate and polar bears. Also, higher levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone lead to a greater risk of breast cancer. Researchers at the Silent Spring Institute have shed new light on how chemical exposure can raise those hormone levels in women, and found that nearly 300 chemicals increased one or both hormones. And an intricate web of roots and fungi connects life in an old growth forest, allowing ancient “mother trees” to nourish and protect their kin. A forest ecologist shares her research findings and reflects on how mother trees helped her through the challenges of motherhood and a cancer diagnosis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists are once again sounding the alarm about the climate emergency, with a new UN climate report. Hundreds of experts collaborated to bring together the best science on past, present, and future climate change. Also, the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill includes some green measures to address and invest in crumbling American infrastructure. But climate and environmental justice advocates say much more is needed now from a much larger budget reconciliation package that’s in the works. And the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the pace of life for many of us, and for writer David Gessner, this era of retreating to our homes brought to mind one famous expert in social distancing. Looking to Henry David Thoreau for guidance on living through a pandemic, a time of racial reckoning, and a climate crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earth’s complex, interconnected climate system means that changes in one part of the world can impact atmospheric moisture and the climate thousands of miles away. Research shows that when trees die in California from drought, wildfires, and bark beetles, that can hinder plant growth all the way across the continent in Eastern North America.Also, every year, several hundred intrepid hikers walk all the way from Mexico to Canada, along the Pacific Crest Trail. At more than twenty-six hundred miles long, it covers some of the most challenging and spectacular terrain in North America. But with a tight-knit community of thru-hikers, the PCT isn’t just about the pretty scenery. And a walk in the woods might be just what your health care provider ordered. Numerous studies suggest that taking in the peaceful atmosphere of a forest can have significant health benefits. Now the practice of “forest bathing,” which originated in Japan in the 1980s as a form of nature therapy, is becoming more popular around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Small particulates from fossil fuels are linked to as many as 300,000 excess deaths in the United States each year. And these small, PM 2.5 particulates may also be harming the mental health of children and teens by worsening depression, anxiety, suicidality and more.Also, the Colorado River that carved the Grand Canyon and now quenches the thirst of much of the American West is parched in a “megadrought.” Two key reservoirs are expected to drop to record low levels this year and trigger a formal water shortage declaration. Why supply continues to shrink as demand holds steady. And a healthier planet also means a healthier society. We’ll look at the intersection of environmental change and human health, and how saving the planet can also save human lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices